First Step on the Road to Happily Ever After
by MyraValhallah
Summary: Written for the Rumbelle 6 month anniversary. We all know that Rum can see the future, what would have happened if Belle had touched him before she kissed him?


_**Just taking a break from 'Winds of Change' to bring you my celebration for the Rumbelle six month anniversary.**_

* * *

Rumpelstiltskin stood watching the road to his estate from his tower, trying to convince himself that he wasn't watching out for his Belle… Belle.

The lies he was telling himself all fell flat as he saw a figure wrapped in gold flecked green emerge from the tree line, Belle. He smiled and tore himself away from the window and all but flew down to sit at his spinning wheel before she arrived, schooling his features into a mask of nonchalance.

The door opened and he looked up from his wheel as his beautiful caretaker entered.

"Oh, you're back already." He smiled, somewhat awkwardly "Good… Good thing. I'm, uh… I'm nearly out of straw."

"Hmm." Belle quirked one auburn brow. "Come on admit it, you're happy that I'm back."

Oh but that would be too easy

"I'm not unhappy." He admitted slyly, no he was jubilant

He was rewarded by Belle's smile as she approached the wheel. "And, uh… you promised me a story."

By the gods she was so close; he was overwhelmed by her smell of rosewater, parchment and something unique, something that he doubted had an actual name… other than Belle.

"Did I?" If so he didn't recall, she was so damned distracting

"Mmhmm" she nodded, sitting beside him on the bench. "Tell me about your son."

Oh, that. Did she really need to know about Bae? He doubted it, but he wasn't about to break a second deal.

"I lost him." There, the truth, without the details- their deal was kept. "There's nothing more to tell, really."

"And, since then, you've loved no one. And no one has loved you." Ah beautiful, perceptive little Belle, hitting the nail straight on the head. His rage filled vow to that blue dust-mite so many years ago echoed in his mind.

"Why did you come back?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, suddenly rousing himself

"I wasn't going to." Her admission stung far more than it should have. "Then… Something changed my mind."

Before he had the chance to so much as consider asking what that _something_ was, Belle's hand rose to his cheek as she leaned over and kissed him.

_Something moved beneath his skin, a strange ripple of warmth which spread from the point that her lips had grazed his._

"_What's happening?" he asked, feeling dazed and oddly light headed_

"_Kiss me again" she cried; her voice thick with elation that he didn't understand. "It's working!"_

"_What is?" he questioned, trying to gain even the fainted glimmer of understanding_

"_Any curse can be broken."_

_And there was the comprehension; it hit him like a punch in the gut- Belle had betrayed him, she wanted to take his powers. He allowed the Dark One's rage to overwhelm him as he pulled away from her, snarling._

"_Who told you that?" The Dark One demanded. "Who knows that?"_

_Belle stared at him, her blue eyes wide with shock. "I-I… I don't know. She, uh… She… She…"_

_The Queen, he should have known. "She…?"_

_He stormed angrily over to the mirror in the corner and tore off the sheet which covered it; knowing that the bitch would have flown right back to her castle, waiting for the fireworks to start. She wanted fireworks, and she would get them._

"_You evil soul!" he roared at the woman he couldn't see. "This was you! You turned her against me! You think you can make me weak? You think you can defeat me?"_

"_Who are you talking to?" Belle asked, drawing his attention away from Regina and onto herself_

"_The Queen!" The Dark One sneered. "Your friend, the Queen! How did she get to you?"_

"_The-The Queen? I don't…"_

_Rumpelstiltskin was in no mood to listen to his little maid. "I knew this was a trick. I knew you could never care for me. Oh, yeah! You're working for her. Or is this all you? Is this you being the hero and killing the beast?"_

"_It was working…" she began_

"_Shut up!" he growled_

"_This means it's true love!" Belle protested_

"_Shut the hell up!" His voice had risen to a roar_

_Belle's eyes flooded with tears. "Why won't you believe me?"_

_Because no one- _no one_" he repeated for emphasis, shaking her by the shoulders. "could ever, ever love me!"_

_Without wasting another moment Rumpelstiltskin tightened his grip on her arm and dragged her down to the dungeon- a room she hadn't seen since her first night in the Dark Castle. He threw her into a cell and locked her in before storming away to vent his rage before he did something stupid. After destroying almost everything in his main room apart from the chipped cup, Rumpelstiltskin collapsed into his chair and collapsed into an exhausted heavy sleep._

_It was just coming light when Rumpelstiltskin awoke, stiff from the night slumped in his chair. He set himself right in the blink of an eye, and a careless application of his magic, and sauntered down to Belle's cell. As he swept in she rose from her position, huddled on the floor- her eyes searched his face as if trying to assess what was going to happen to her._

"_So, what are you going to do to me?" she asked, somewhat timidly_

_The Dark One delighted in the ripples of fear that he could feel from her, but Rumpelstiltskin just wanted to draw her into his arms- however, even if he could overcome his age old cowardice in this matter, showing her affection _now_ was out of the question._

"_Go." He fought to keep his voice and body steady, even for that single syllable as he pointed to the door. _

_Belle's brow furrowed in her confusion. "Go?"_

"_I don't want you anymore, dearie." Oh the lie tasted like venom, but he needed to keep his powers. He longed to keep her, by the gods he did, but if he gave up his powers before Queenie unleashed the curse he'd never find Baelfire._

_He watched her leave, trying not to react to the look of pain on her beautiful face. Suddenly she turned on her heel and strode back into the cell- a wounded animal making a last desperate attack before heading off to lick her wounds._

"_You were freeing yourself!" she told him, her voice thick with tears she was trying hard not to shed. "You could've had happiness if you just believed that someone could want you. But you couldn't take the chance."_

_Rumpelstiltskin knew she was right, but couldn't let her know that. "That's a lie."_

"_You're a coward, Rumpelstiltskin." He'd been called as such many times, but the words had only once stung that much. "And no matter how thick you make your skin, that doesn't change."_

"_I'm not a coward, dearie." The second lie he'd ever told her, promptly followed by the third and last. "It's quite simple, really. My power means more to me than you."_

"_No. No, it doesn't. You just don't think I can love you. Now, you've made your choice. And you're going to regret it… forever." Her voice broke on that last word, but she rallied herself for one final blow. "And all you'll have is an empty heart- and a chipped cup."_

_With that she left the dungeon._

_-.-_

_Rumpelstiltskin sat at his wheel, spinning straw and trying to forget what he'd done to his beloved Belle. He heard the doors open and Regina swept in, he knew it was her because he knew what her magic felt like. He heard the tea service clatter as the bitch helped herself to his tea_

"_Flimsy locks." She remarked once he finally decided to humour her by looking at her. "I have a deal to discuss. A certain… mermaid."_

"_I'm not dealing today." He told her returning to his spinning, nor had he in the week since he'd sent Belle away_

"_Are you angry with me?" When was he ever not? "What is it this time?"_

"_Your little deception failed." He told her curtly. "You'll never be more powerful than me. You can keep trying, dearie, but you're never going to beat me."_

_Comprehension dawned on that evil little mug of hers. "Is this about that girl I met on the road? Hm? What was her name? Margie? …Verna?"_

"_Belle." Rumpelstiltskin hoped she couldn't hear the reverence in his voice as he said her name_

"_Right." She nodded. "Well, you can rest assured I had nothing to do with that tragedy."_

Tragedy?_ He stopped spinning and crossed over to the Queen. "What tragedy?"_

"_You don't know?" she sounded surprised. "Well, after she got home, her fiancé had gone missing… and after her association with you- no one would want her of course. Her father shunned her. Cut her off. Shut her out."_

_That couldn't be right- he'd sent her back to what he thought would be a loving home. What she deserved. But if they didn't want her…_

"_So, she needs…a home." He asked, tentatively- he'd take her in in a heartbeat; rectify his biggest mistake since Bae_

"_He was cruel to her." Regina announced "He locked her in a tower and sent in clerics to cleanse her soul with scourges and flaying. After a while, she threw herself off the tower. She died."_

_No! Nononononononononononono. Belle, beautiful, vibrant, lovely Belle couldn't be dead_

"_You're lying." He hissed_

"_Am I?"_

_Of course she was- she had to be. And yet… what if she wasn't_

"_We're done." He told her, turning his back in her_

"_Fine." He could _hear_ the queen shrug as she spoke. "I have other calls to make. The place is looking dusty, Rumpel. You should get a new girl."_

_He wouldn't need to if_ someone _hadn't put ideas into her pretty little head. He waited until the reek of her magic had dwindled- she wouldn't be coming back. The pain of what remained of his heart shattering was overwhelming. The only person he'd allowed himself to love since Bae was taken from him had killed herself- because of his stupidity- he had to do something to honour her memory._

_Rumpelstiltskin had just enough strength to retrieve Belle's cup and place it on a pedestal, first removing a worthless golden chalice._

* * *

His eyes snapped open and locked with a familiar crystalline blue pair. Her hand still cupped his cheek; lips puckered and eyes heavily lidded. Those eyes filled with hurt as he pulled away.

"Rumpelstiltskin?" she frowned

"Tell me dearie, what was it exactly that made you change your mind about coming back here?" he asked, forcing his voice into the one he used with those desperate enough to call on him.

"I was on the road leading into town when a woman in a black carriage accosted me" Belle told him. "She wouldn't leave me alone and mentioned that curses can be broken by true love's kiss. I- I couldn't help thinking that…"

"Your kiss will indeed break my curse Belle" he interrupted her.

Her eyes lit up with hope. "Y-you love me?"

_Do the brave thing and bravery will follow-_ such a hard thing for the man who had once been naught but a craven spinner. Screwing up what little courage he had he nodded.

"I love you too" she told him and leaned forwards

"Belle, no" he placed his fingers to her lips.

"But…"

"If you kiss me I could lose my power" he told her. "I can't take the risk of that happening_._"

"Why not?"

Rumpelstiltskin sighed, looks like he'd have to _share his tale_ after all. "I created a curse to take us all to a land where there is no magic…"

"Why?"

"Because my son is there" he told her about how he had become the Dark One to save his son from the ogre war and how he broke the most important deal of his life- the one with Bae.

"But if you've finished the curse…"

"I might be the Dark One dearie but I'm not completely evil dearie" Rumpelstiltskin explained. "Not like our dear old queenie. She'd do anything to become the most powerful magical being in our world." Not to mention the vindictive horse enthusiast's refusal to allow anyone in the enchanted forest to have their happy ending, because of a certain impossibly naïve twelve year old princess who placed her trust in the wrong person.

"Are you saying that you won't give up your power because you don't want the Queen to be more powerful than you?"

"You misunderstand me Belle" he couldn't have that- if his vision was anything to go by, he needed to keep her close, to protect her. "Regina is a monster, more so than myself"

Belle gave him the look which he had come, in recent days to call her '_you're not a monster_' look

"You my love see me rather differently than most" he told her, before she could open her mouth. "And I adore you for it. I promise you here and now dearie, that the moment that Queen is gone, and I have my son back I will let you kiss me as you wish to"

"Alright" she nodded, a little reluctantly. "I'll be patient"

He smiled: a true smile for the first time since losing Bae and daringly kissed the corner of her mouth. "Thank you love, now… how about some tea?"

Belle rolled her eyes indulgently and sauntered towards the kitchen. She'd heard him say that true love was the most powerful magic of all; and, as all magic came with a price, continuing as her true love's maid was a small price to pay on the road to their happily ever after.

~V~


End file.
